Among various ultra-thin flat type display devices, which include a display screen having a thickness of several centimeters, a liquid crystal display (LCD) device are widely used for notebook computers, monitors, aircraft, and etc. since it has advantages such as low power consumption and portability.
The LCD device includes lower and upper substrates facing each other at a predetermined interval therebetween, and a liquid crystal layer formed between the lower and upper substrates. Generally, the lower substrate includes a thin film transistor and a pixel electrode. The upper substrate includes a light-shielding layer, a color filter layer and a common electrode.
As explained above, the LCD device is comprised of various components which are formed by repeated steps. To pattern the components of the LCD device with various shapes, a photolithography process is used necessarily.
Hereinafter, a patterning method using a photolithography process according to the related art will be explained as follows.
First, as shown in FIG. 1A, a pattern material layer 20 is formed on a transparent substrate 10.
Then, as shown in FIG. 1B, after a mask 23 of a predetermined pattern is positioned above the pattern material layer 20, light emitted from a light source is applied to the transparent substrate 10.
Then, as shown in FIG. 1C, a pattern 20a is completed on the transparent substrate 10 by development.
However, the photolithography process has a disadvantage of high manufacturing cost since the photolithography process uses the mask of the predetermined pattern. In addition, the photolithography process requires the exposure and development.
To overcome these disadvantages of the photolithography process, it is necessary to develop a new patterning method.